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Jeff Cardenas built a humanoid robot company in an Austin industrial park. Now it's worth $5 billion.

The Apptronik co-founder spun a UT robotics lab project into one of the most-watched hardware companies in Texas, but says he isn't ready to declare victory.

PeopleSloane Reyes · 6d

Bryan Chambers Takes the Helm at Capital Factory After Cofounder's Death

The longtime president now leads the Austin institution through its most painful transition, days after launching a new nonprofit meant to outlast any one founder.

PeopleSloane Reyes · Jun 18

Joshua Baer, Architect of Austin's Startup Boom, Dies at 50

The Capital Factory cofounder, who spent two decades convincing Texas it could build the future, was killed in a Laredo plane crash.

AIDev Okonkwo · Jun 10

Austin venture funding hits an all-time high, led by AI and robotics

Crunchbase data shows the city's startups raised record capital, with AI, robotics and advanced manufacturing leading the pack.

NationalJordan Vance · Jun 4

Tesla extends its Austin robotaxi service across the full metro

The service now covers the entire Austin metro, though the fleet running it remains small.

StartupsMara Whitfield · Jun 2

Saronic launches its first Marauder unmanned vessel, built in under a year

The Austin defense-tech company put its first medium unmanned surface vessel in the water and began on-water trials less than a year after the design started.

AIDev Okonkwo · Jun 2

Why Austin keeps showing up on the AI-chip startup map

From analog inference at Mythic to open-architecture silicon at Tenstorrent, the city is quietly stacking AI-hardware talent.

StartupsMara Whitfield · May 21

Firefly Aerospace spreads across three Cedar Park buildings as it scales production

The space company now occupies roughly 144,000 square feet across a three-building Central Texas campus to support spacecraft assembly and mission operations.

AIDev Okonkwo · May 12

The Austin corridor is becoming Texas' data center magnet

A $1.44 billion EdgeConneX campus in Bastrop County is one of several AI compute projects clustering around Austin and San Antonio.

PeopleSloane Reyes · May 8

Jacqueline Samira Built Howdy by Betting on Latin American Engineers

The Austin founder turned a nearshore-hiring idea into a Y Combinator-backed company connecting U.S. firms with vetted developers across Latin America.

StartupsMara Whitfield · Apr 30

Colossal Biosciences adds the bluebuck to its de-extinction roster

The Austin biotech named the extinct South African antelope as the sixth species in its de-extinction portfolio and its first project on mainland Africa.

AIDev Okonkwo · Apr 30

Colossal Biosciences, Austin's de-extinction decacorn, keeps raising

The genetic-engineering company is past a $10 billion valuation as it pushes mammoth, dire wolf and bluebuck programs forward.

PeopleSloane Reyes · Apr 29

Apptronik Raids Big Tech for a Commercialization 'Dream Team'

The Austin humanoid-robotics company has tapped Waymo's former chief product officer and other Silicon Valley veterans as it readies a new robot.

StartupsMara Whitfield · Apr 22

AI healthtech firm Biorce plants a U.S. flag on Congress Avenue in Austin

Fresh off one of Iberia's largest-ever Series A rounds, the company is opening a second American office downtown.

StartupsMara Whitfield · Apr 21

AI clinical-trials startup Biorce opens a U.S. office in downtown Austin

The Barcelona-founded health-tech company picked Austin for its second U.S. base, citing the city's mix of deep-tech and healthcare talent.

StartupsMara Whitfield · Apr 9

TerraFirma, founded by ex-SpaceX engineers, moves its headquarters to Buda

The earthmoving-robotics startup is leaving its Southwest Austin 'Robot Ranch' for a 40,000-square-foot integrated headquarters and test facility in Buda.

PeopleSloane Reyes · Apr 9

Ben Lamm said his company brought back the dire wolf. The debate hasn't stopped since.

The serial entrepreneur turned a de-extinction moonshot into a multibillion-dollar biotech, and a lightning rod for scientific argument.

StartupsMara Whitfield · Apr 8

Augment's 'Augie' pulls in $85M Series A to automate the freight back office

The AI logistics startup from Deliverr's founder says its assistant now touches $35 billion in freight under management.

PeopleSloane Reyes · Apr 2

Oracle made Austin its world headquarters. Then it left, and then came the layoffs.

The tech giant's exit and global job cuts have forced a reckoning over how much of Austin's tech economy rests on imported corporate logos.

AIDev Okonkwo · Mar 31

Saronic raises $1.75B at a $9.25B valuation to build autonomous warships in Texas

The Austin defense startup more than doubled its valuation as the Pentagon leans on cheaper, software-defined naval hardware.

PeopleSloane Reyes · Mar 20

SXSW turned 40 with a shorter schedule and a question about its future

The festival that helped define Austin's identity celebrated four decades while organizers reworked the formula under pressure.

FundingMara Whitfield · Mar 19

Austin neuromodulation startup raises $25M Series A for non-invasive ultrasound therapy

The company is developing non-invasive ultrasound treatments aimed at immune-mediated diseases.

StartupsMara Whitfield · Mar 16

Capital Factory launches STATION Austin to carry its programming forward

The new nonprofit takes over Capital Factory's community and innovation initiatives and adds a 23,000-square-foot center focused on dual-use and defense startups.

FundingMara Whitfield · Mar 12

Ontic raises $230M Series C as KKR bets on Austin's connected-security platform

The protective-intelligence company plans to fold AI and automation into its software as corporate physical-security budgets grow.

StartupsMara Whitfield · Mar 11

ICON opens its 3D-printing system to outside builders with the launch of Titan

The Austin construction-tech company is, for the first time, selling its full robotic printing stack to other builders, with walls it says can be printed for about $20 a square foot.

FundingMara Whitfield · Mar 6

Nominal hits $1B valuation as Founders Fund leads $80M round for its engineering data platform

The Austin company that powers hardware testing for mission-critical programs says it grew revenue sevenfold and tripled its headcount.

PeopleSloane Reyes · Mar 5

UT Austin Launches a Venture Studio to Turn Research Into Companies

The university's Discovery to Impact unit is building startups from the ground up, starting with medical 'digital twins.'

FundingMara Whitfield · Mar 5

Founders Fund leads $80 million bet on Austin's Nominal at a $1 billion valuation

The hardware-testing software company became a unicorn on a Series B extension led by Founders Fund.

PeopleSloane Reyes · Mar 3

Lauren Washington built Fundr to fix a bias she lived. Now she's advising the mayor on it.

The Fundr co-founder turned her experience with funding barriers into a startup and a seat on Austin's women-entrepreneurs task force.

FundingMara Whitfield · Feb 25

Ownwell raises $50 million Series B to take its property-tax appeals national

The Austin fintech, backed by Alpha Edison and Mercato Partners with Intuit Ventures participating, is expanding a service that helps homeowners challenge overassessed property values.

AIDev Okonkwo · Feb 23

Circuit pulls $30M angel round to put AI on the factory floor

Silicon Labs veterans bet that AI can capture the institutional know-how walking out the door as experienced workers retire.

PeopleSloane Reyes · Feb 20

Hugh Forrest, the Face of SXSW for 35 Years, Builds His Next Act

Ousted from the festival he helped define, the longtime president is now a cofounder of Gather & Grow Experiences.

AIDev Okonkwo · Feb 18

Apptronik leans on Google DeepMind's Gemini to give Apollo a brain

The Austin robotics maker is building its next humanoids on DeepMind's Gemini Robotics models — and Google is now an investor too.

PeopleSloane Reyes · Feb 14

Apptronik teamed up with Google. The deal says as much about Austin as about robots.

A partnership between an Austin hardware startup and DeepMind's robotics team puts the city at the center of the humanoid race.

FundingMara Whitfield · Feb 13

Apptronik's Series A swells past $935 million as humanoid-robot race heats up

A February extension co-led by B Capital and Capital Factory, with Google participating, pushed the Austin robotics company's Series A near $1 billion total.

StartupsMara Whitfield · Feb 13

Apptronik moves toward commercial-scale Apollo deployment, expands in Austin

The humanoid-robot maker is scaling Apollo production and growing its Austin footprint as it pushes toward broader factory and warehouse deployments in 2026.

PeopleSloane Reyes · Feb 10

Carla McDonald is trying to fix the number that haunts Austin's women founders: 1%

As chair of the mayor's task force, the Dynabrand Ventures founder is pushing to change how little venture capital reaches women in 'Silicon Hills.'

FundingMara Whitfield · Feb 4

Texas Instruments to buy Austin's Silicon Labs for $7.5 billion

The all-cash deal is TI's largest acquisition since 2011 and would fold an Austin wireless-chip pioneer into the Dallas semiconductor giant.

FundingMara Whitfield · Feb 4

Saronic raises $600 million Series C at $4 billion valuation for autonomous warships

The Austin defense-tech company's round, led by Elad Gil, quadrupled its valuation as it builds an autonomous shipyard called Port Alpha.

FundingMara Whitfield · Feb 2

CesiumAstro closes $470 million to scale satellite communications and a new Austin HQ

The space-comms company combined a $270 million equity Series C led by Trousdale Ventures with $200 million in financing from EXIM and J.P. Morgan.

AIDev Okonkwo · Jan 27

Serve Robotics buys Austin's Diligent, pushing sidewalk delivery into hospitals

The ~$25.7M deal hands Serve the Moxi hospital robot and its first beachhead in indoor mobile manipulation.

PeopleSloane Reyes · Jan 15

Amir Husain returned to UT to tell the class of 2025 what he learned building an AI unicorn

The serial entrepreneur who founded SparkCognition addressed the graduates of the school where his AI career began.

StartupsMara Whitfield · Jan 12

Togetherwork moves its headquarters to South Congress, with 250 jobs to follow

The membership-software and payments firm is leaving Atlanta for a 20,000-square-foot office on South Congress and plans to staff it from the local talent pool.

FundingMara Whitfield · Jan 6

NinjaOne hits $5 billion valuation with $500 million in Series C extensions

The founder-controlled Austin IT-management company raised funding led by ICONIQ Growth and CapitalG to fund autonomous endpoint features and an acquisition.

StartupsMara Whitfield · Jan 6

IBM takes over Meta's empty Domain 12 building in North Austin

IBM assumed Meta's lease on the entire 320,000-square-foot Domain 12 building, consolidating its Austin workforce after walking away from a larger planned hub.

FundingMara Whitfield · Dec 22

Truemed raises $34 million Series A to route HSA and FSA dollars to lifestyle health

Andreessen Horowitz led the Austin fintech's round as it expands access to tax-advantaged spending for preventive products.

PeopleSloane Reyes · Dec 18

Austin Tech Week is what Austin Startup Week grew up to be

The grassroots celebration that started in 2011 is now a five-day showcase, and a barometer for how Austin sees itself.

FundingMara Whitfield · Dec 17

Mythic raises $125 million to challenge Nvidia with analog AI chips

The Austin chip company, led by DCVC with Honda and Lockheed Martin participating, capped a turnaround with an oversubscribed round.

PeopleSloane Reyes · Dec 12

Jason Ballard wants 3D printing to stop being a niche. He's betting Austin's suburbs on it.

The ICON co-founder is moving from headline-grabbing demos to neighborhoods of printed houses across Central Texas.

StartupsMara Whitfield · Dec 12

ICON completes its first 3D-printed model home at a luxury Lake Travis resort

The Austin company finished a model home at The Canyon Club, where five of 25 planned residences will be built with its 3D-printing technology.

FundingMara Whitfield · Dec 2

Curative becomes a unicorn with $150 million Series B for its zero-cost health plan

The Austin health insurer reached a $1.275 billion valuation on a round led by the Upside Vision Fund as it plans a national expansion.

FundingMara Whitfield · Nov 19

Function Health hits $2.5 billion valuation with $298 million Series B

The Austin preventive-health testing company raised an oversubscribed round led by Redpoint Ventures and launched a medical intelligence lab.

StartupsMara Whitfield · Nov 10

Austin trucking startup AI Fleet lays off nearly 60 after losing a key supplier

The AI-driven trucking operator cut 56 jobs at its downtown Austin headquarters after a sudden supplier loss forced the board to downsize operations.

FundingMara Whitfield · Oct 8

Base Power closes $1 billion Series C, plans downtown Austin battery factory

The Austin home-battery company raised one of the largest private rounds in city history and is building its first factory on the old Austin American-Statesman printing site.

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